


Animal Instinct

by pasdexcuses



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, M/M, Post-Hogwarts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-29
Updated: 2017-05-29
Packaged: 2018-11-06 07:52:19
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,522
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11031852
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pasdexcuses/pseuds/pasdexcuses
Summary: The more he thinks about it, the less sense it makes. It isn’t like Theodore to be at these sort of events. It isn’t like him to gravitate towards someone as unguarded as Longbottom. Maybe it’s all the champagne. Maybe it’s the fact that he’ll be thirty in a few weeks or all the toasting to the happy couple. Or maybe he’s just tired.





	Animal Instinct

It’s a perfect summer night. Inside, guests are dancing, laughing, and the vague scent of bubbling alcohol lingers everywhere. There’s a sweetness in the air that has nothing to do with the flowers in the garden.

Theodore can’t remember how he got here. How he ended up on a balcony, smoking and flirting with Neville Longbottom, of all people. 

The more he thinks about it, the less sense it makes. It isn’t like Theodore to be at these sort of events. It isn’t like him to gravitate towards someone as unguarded as Longbottom. Maybe it’s all the champagne. Maybe it’s the fact that he’ll be thirty in a few weeks or all the toasting to the happy couple. Or maybe he’s just tired.

Theodore considers Longbottom carefully. He takes in the slight pink on his cheeks, his lopsided smile and his rather obvious obliviousness. 

He wonders if he’ll regret this later as he takes one last drag from his cigarette. Probably. 

He lets out a cloud of smoke that makes Longbottom cough. “Wanna get out of here?” he asks. 

Longbottom’s Adam’s apple bobs before he replies, “I…uh, yeah.”

“My place?”

“Sure.”

Theodore forces himself not to think too much about what it means to be the one taking Longbottom’s hand, and in a whirl they are Apparating just a block away from his place. 

 

London is colder, the air crisp, yet the sweet smell lingers on Longbottom. He can feel Longbottom’s pulse as they hold hands, understands the giddy anticipation. 

They haven’t even kissed. 

“You live among Muggles?” Longbottom asks as they walk down an empty street.

“Yes.”

“I… wouldn’t have guessed that.” 

Theodore thinks back on the reactions he’s received after disclosing this fact. It’s almost disconcerting how there’s only surprise in Longbottom’s voice.

“It makes things… easier,” Theodore offers by way of an explanation and almost bites his own tongue for sharing that much.

“Really? I thought Ministry officials could Apparate from anywhere?” Longbottom asks just as they get to Theodore’s doorstep.

“Yes, we can Apparate from anywhere,” he replies, letting them in. 

Before Longbottom can ask any more intrusive questions, Theodore shoves him up against the nearest wall. 

He breathes in deeply, and it hits him: he hasn’t done this in almost fifteen years. He’s risking everything, and it takes all he’s got to fight every instinct that’s telling him to come clean right then and there. 

“Hey,” Longbottom says, the slightest hint of command in his voice. “Are you all right?”

Licking his lips, Theodore looks up. “Yeah.”

His hands are holding fast onto Longbottom’s hips, hard enough to leave a bruise. But Longbottom doesn’t complain. Instead, he cups Theodore’s face with both hands just before kissing him. 

In a split second, his world is reduced to the lips on his, the tongue inside his mouth, the wetness, the sweet smell. The intense, bubbling scent.

They’re both panting when they break apart, and there’s no time to think about it. He grabs Longbottom’s hand again, leads him up the stairs to his bedroom. Throwing the door open, Theodore pushes Longbottom onto the bed before crawling on top.

He’s straddling Longbottom’s hips, looking down at a pair of blue eyes. He wonders how much Longbottom has noticed. 

He remembers how his hand trembled as he took that last drag of his cigarette. He remembers the look Draco had thrown at him just before he stepped out on the balcony. He remembers the potion jar under his sink, remembers the last cauldron he brewed. 

And then Longbottom’s hands are rubbing the side of his legs, quietly demanding Theodore’s entire focus. “So…” 

“So?”

Chuckling, Longbottom says, “How do you want to do this?”

The question throws him off completely. “What?”

“I mean…” Longbottom starts, blushing furiously. “You know I’m…”

“Yes,” Theodore says.

“And you’re… well… What I’m trying to say is… I don’t mind, however you want to.”

“But you’re…”

And at this, Longbottom shakes his head. There’s less hesitation when he speaks next, “I like it, both ways I mean. So… what do you want?”

Theodore doesn’t think anyone has ever asked him that. There’s no room for questions whenever he sleeps with Muggles. And the one time he wasn’t with a Muggle, he was _meant_ to want only one thing. 

“Theodore?”

He has to fight his instinct to bury his face in Longbottom’s neck and beg for something he decided a long time ago he would never want. It takes everything to keep himself where he is. Theodore can feel how hard Longbottom is, he can hear the pulling command in Longbottom’s voice. 

He starts unbuttoning Longbottom’s shirt, just to give himself something to do before unbuttoning his own and throwing it on the floor. Longbottom has to sit up to get rid of his, and, as he does, he grabs Theodore’s hips. Theodore is pulled in for a second kiss, and it is intoxicating. 

Longbottom smells intoxicating. Like orange blossoms and fizzing champagne, and all Theodore wants is to drown in that scent. Let go of everything and let himself have this. 

But he can’t. So he snakes a hand inside Longbottom’s trousers. Longbottom makes a low noise, and in a matter of seconds, Theodore has him gasping and moaning. 

“Wait,” Longbottom pants. “I… I want to touch you, too.”

And Theodore is already hard as nails, he is not about to say no to a hand job. Nodding, he undoes his trousers and kisses Longbottom for good measure. 

He’s on top of Longbottom, pumping his cock and perfectly matching Longbottom’s own rhythm. He distantly wonders if this is how it always is, always synchronised, always instinctively knowing how and when and where. 

Sucking a bruise on Longbottom’s collar, his hips arch down as long fingers work him towards his release. Their pace gets faster and faster as the air around them gets thicker and rawer with every second. And then Longbottom is digging his nails into the curve of his arse as he continues to pump Theodore’s cock with his other hand, tensing and tensing just before he spills all over Theodore’s fingers. 

“Fuck,” Longbottom moans, riding his orgasm.

A few more strokes have Theodore going over the edge, coming all over Longbottom’s firm hand. His vision goes blank as his heart races impossibly, his whole body convulsing. 

He’s spent, tired and not really thinking about it when he collapses on top of Longbottom’s body, heart still racing. And then Longbottom moves to stroke Theodore’s hair, to kiss the side of his face, and Theodore is suddenly sick. 

Rushing to the bathroom, he’s emptying the contents of his stomach before he knows what’s happening, Longbottom right behind him, rubbing circles on his naked back. He distantly hears Longbottom conjuring a glass that he fills with tap water and hands over.

“Hey,” he says, rubbing more circles on Theodore’s back.

But Theodore can’t look at him. He’s almost choking back tears, and this should’ve never happened. He should’ve never done this. There are no potions strong enough to keep his own body from betraying him. There’s nothing that’s worth ruining his carefully built life. 

He thinks about all the secrets, all the stolen ingredients and late nights and how he almost undid everything in under an hour.

He wants to tell Longbottom to leave, to never owl, to forget this ever happened. But he keeps opening and closing his mouth, and all he really wants is to bury his face in Longbottom’s neck, breathe in his sweet scent.

“I…” Theodore starts. “I need to be alone,” he finally says.

“But—”

“Please,” Theodore insists, hating the way his own voice sounds like a plea. “Just… go.”

“Let me help you back into bed,” Longbottom says, grabbing his arm. “I promise I’ll be gone after.”

Theodore doesn’t have the energy to argue, so he allows himself be dragged back into the bedroom. He’s vaguely aware of Longbottom pulling the sheets over him and setting another glass of water on his nightstand.

 

He spends one of the worst nights of his life, tossing and turning. Horny and impossibly sad all the time. He remembers Longbottom’s hands on his skin, and he’s the wettest he’s been in years. But then he remembers how the smell around Longbottom had gone sour, and his stomach drops. He barely gets any sleep that night.

He spends nights barely sleeping, worrying over how badly he’s fucked up, blaming himself for having so grossly miscalculated. He spends nights remembering how his father had taught him to deny himself at all costs. How he made it through his teenage years, and how stupid he was for giving in now, when there was no need. 

He spends mornings carefully reading the _Daily Prophet_ , looking for clues and sighing in relief after reaching the last word. It becomes an exhausting routine of sorts. Until one day, when an owl he doesn’t recognise taps on his window. It flies in, dropping a small envelope on Theodore’s coffee table before flying out. 

The envelope contains a torn parchment with a single line on it:

_I know what you are.  
—N.L._

**Author's Note:**

> Wow, I haven't written much of anything in a while! Feels good to stretch out these muscles hehehe
> 
> I'm guessing anyone who actually reads this is confused by the end, or maybe you already guessed. But here it is: this is an alpha/beta/omega story about an omega struggling with his identity and fighting the system in his own quiet way. 
> 
> I've been meaning to write something set in an A/B/O verse, just because there are elements of it that I find really interesting (and others that I find _crazy hot_ ). Elements that I think make for great drama. 
> 
> I also know this is a bit of a weird pairing, but boy was it perfect for the story I wanted to tell. Because Neville is super noble and naïve, while Theodore is calculating and patient, and that's just the perfect combo for the story I was going for. I'd definitely want to make this a series of their developing relationship, but we shall see how it goes. 
> 
> Anyway, hope you enjoyed this!


End file.
